Mount Airy, NC

The famous TV show The Andy Griffith Show was shot here. It had been ten years since I first watched the show and had wanted to visit. It’s a shame that Main Street is flanked by tourist traps and souvenir stores. I would’ve paid money to see a recreated street Read more

City of Raleigh Museum

The museum in North Carolina’s state capital occupies the ground floor of the city’s first high-rise building. There’s a lot on black history such as black businesses of the 19th century, how the oldest black university—Shaw University—was founded by Dr. Tupper in 1870, and racial exclusion in American politics. There Read more

North Carolina Museum of History

Established in 1818 as the state capitol Raleigh’s first museum, it has a wealth of information on state industry on the first floor. For example, in 1840, the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad stretched 200km and was the longest in the world, famous pirate Blackbeard blockaded Charles Town with 19 captured Read more

North Carolina Museum of Art

Just on the outskirts of the state capital Raleigh, the museum was founded in 1965, so it’s mostly a contemporary and modern art museum. The East Building has mostly black art and the West Building has everything. There was an interesting exhibit on Afrofuturism in fashion design, especially when represented Read more

Raleigh, NC

The first time I heard the name Raleigh I was watching the Andy Griffith Show and thought it was spelt “Rawley.” Google promptly asked if I meant to search for “Raleigh” instead. I didn’t give visiting the state capital of North Carolina a shot until I saw it on a map and Read more

Canadian Space Services Carp

Built in 1963 to receive signals from the first generation of NATO military satellites, the Canadian Space Services Carp station was decommissioned in 1999 and sold to a private company for space research. The large dome measures 68 feet across housing a 50-foot radar. Today, a variety of researchers and Read more

Most of Bubly

BlackberryImitation: 7/10Flavour: 6/10 I’m not a fan of blackberry flavouring in food because I’d much rather have blackcurrant having grown up with Ribena, but that’s not the point here. Blackberry isn’t sweet enough to make this a zero-sweetener replacement for pop. It’s probably best for old people who still remember Read more

San Francisco, CA

The first time I visited San Francisco was through GTA San Andreas on my computer screen. I parachuted off the top of the Transamerica Pyramid countless times after evading the police. The first evening I got into town by Uber I saw homeless people on every single street corner. Even Read more

WWII Pacific War Memorial Hall

Of all the nations that fought the second world war, Japan remains the only country whose government systematically denies the atrocities it had committed until this day. The memorial hall is less of a museum and more of a collection of stories of the war against Japanese aggression from Chinese Read more